Terrorized?

or Victimized?

ISLAM NEWSROOM DATELINE - February 4, 2015 - Washington, D.C.

Appearances Are Deceiving
 

Things are not always as they appear, at least not on the surface. They say, "Never judge a book by its cover" and usually follow up with something like, "For things are seldom what they seem".

William Shakespeare in his famous soliloquy (in Merchant of Venice) tells us, "All that glitters is not gold".

Four hundred years later and our lives are all about dunyah (the race for this world), get more, do more, have more and be more - than ever before, forgetting these wise words of advice -- "Things are not always as they appear.."

Not only can appearances be deceiving, sometimes (often times?) things are designed to be deceiving.

Take for instance the subject of the:

 "Attack On America" on Sept. 11, 2001.

What we have is a short list of facts and a long list of allegations and suppositions.

Let us consider some facts:

Two Airplanes Crashed Into the Twin Towers!
Another Airplane Crashed into the Pentagon!
Another Plane Crashed in Pennsylvania!
Thousands died.
Millions were "terrorized"

But many more have been "victimized" ever since.

Newspapers, magazines, radio and television all seem to agree with Pres. G. W. Bush, in that the only possible person who could do such a thing is none other than a guy they have been trying to get rid of for a long time.

General Musharraf told his countrymen that this was going to be quick and over with in a short time. He must not have heard G.W.'s speech in that he said this going to be a long time campaign against terrorism and terrorists.

Then and now the indications all point to a very long and drawn out process for removing all kinds of "terror" from the face of the earth. Things are not going along well at all.

Let's change the subject for a while. Maybe I should share a story with you and then we can both look at things in a better light.

Years ago when I was still a small guy and even before that -- we had a president by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had a difficult presidency because of the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent run on the banks.

It did not help the situation that America was also going through a drought of many years. The breadbasket of America had turned into beach front property without any water. Dust and dirt flew in the air for hours and sometimes even days at a time.

For many there was no food, no shelter, no clothing, no money and no jobs. The dollar was still worth a dollar, but there just weren't any dollars to go around.

My grandfather used to go out for a long walk if any company came to their house for dinner (almost every night somebody came by to join in the meal). He would walk and walk until he was sure the guests had a chance to eat and only then would he return home. The average daily wage was one dollar, if you could find a job.

Most men were working for one or another of the work programs established under Roosevelt. There was the CCC and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and others. Men would load up on the back of trucks and work all day long building bridges; roads; parks or whatever was needed. A meal and a dollar might be all they got, if that.

The idea was to have a job and help the country. But there still was no money and even the government was facing hardships. We needed something to do to make money. We needed to manufacture things and produce goods. We needed to produce new technologies and invent new products. The experts all agreed. We needed a war.

But there was a problem.

We had just come out of the "War to End All Wars!"

Of course today we call it W.W.I (World War I). But back then it was still thought of as the end of wars for everyone. And then there was the idea that we had gone off to fight someone else's battles for them.

We had lost thousands of our dough boy and children were orphaned and women were widowed. Parents lost their young sons in their prime.

It hurt.

There was no amount of poverty, starvation or pestilence that would allow the American people to enter back into another war. We just could not face another situation like what had taken place over twenty years before. We just weren't prepared for that.

There wasn't anything that could pull us into another war on foreign soil. Nothing.

According to some sources near the White House, President Roosevelt knew of the Japanese raid planned for December 7, 1941.

The report says that he had information about the attack on Pearl Harbor long before it occurred. He knew he could not take the US into battle unless there was a strong favoritism by the American people.

The US had just come out of World War I. In those days it was called "The War to End All Wars." Too bad that it wasn't. Can you imagine the hardship he experienced?

All along he knew what was coming, up to the last minute and then -- the kamikazes started coming in out of nowhere, one after the other. They dropped their payloads and then they purposefully crashed into anything they could so that they could take more casualties. It was the most horrible attack ever against America.

And the president knew all along.

Let us ask some questions here. Why did these men want to kill themselves?

First of all, did they want to die?

Maybe they had no choice.

Checkout the history on this one.

You might be surprised to learn that the Japanese used to be a "War god nation." They lived for war. Their religion reflected war. War was considered a high honor, and death in battle the highest of all honors.

The parents of the martyr for Japan were held in high respect and the government was committed to care for them in dignity. Japan had natural protection from enemies by having mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

They claimed that they could never be defeated. Even when loosing the war disgraced the Japanese, it was expected that their leader should takeout his sword and then fall on it (hara-kiri) for the sake of Japan's honor.

Let's look a little closer now at the kamikaze pilots and how all 100%of them carry out their missions without any defectors.

One thing was the horrible disgrace that any one of them would incur if he should turn and runaway. But that was not the strongest reason for these young, hapless aviators to fulfill their mission.

You see, they also loaded them up on drugs and alcohol to make them feel "high." Next, they were only given enough fuel to reach their targets, not enough to return. And finally, in an effort to make sure they don't try to land somewhere else, and to save a few bucks, the landing gear of their planes was designed to fall away from the plane as soon as it took off and then it could be reused on another plane.

These poor youths had been brainwashed into thinking they were doing something good for their country and their god. What did they get? Nothing
Even the name of their military division "kamikaze" has become ridiculed so much so, that in English it has come to mean one who drives with suicidal tendencies.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor it was very easy to pass the bills through congress and get all the things that the Democrats had wanted, and more.

Factories were pushed into service for the country and a sense of patriotism ran through every red-blooded American from one coast to the other. Unemployment lines were finished.

Soup kitchens could now be closed. People had jobs again. Factories were going to work. And our youth were going off to save the free world from the "Japs."

A little note here that frequently and conveniently slips out of the history books, we also instituted "concentration camps" for the Japanese Americans.

We rounded them all up (and anyone with Oriental looks could be thrown in with them) and put them away in prisons just in case.

Hey. This is America!

The good news for us today is that we are Muslims. Allah will make it all come out right for us, if we are patient and continue to work toward pleasing Him.

We must increase our worship and fulfill our obligations to Allah on His terms.

Pray as you have never prayer before.

Ask Him.

Be steadfast. Be patient.

May Allah Guide us all, ameen.
Salam Alaykum (peace),
Yusuf Estes